


Hannibal Lecter, A Contemporary Frankenstein (Meta)

by HappyFuseli



Category: Hannibal (TV), Hannibal Lecter (Hopkins Movies), Hannibal Lecter Tetralogy - Thomas Harris, Hannibal Rising (2007)
Genre: Bryan Fuller - Freeform, Frankenstein - Freeform, Gen, Hugh Dancy - Freeform, Mads Mikkelsen - Freeform, Mary Shelley - Freeform, Prometheus - Freeform, References to Frankenstein, Thomas Harris - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-19
Updated: 2020-10-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:14:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27109318
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HappyFuseli/pseuds/HappyFuseli
Summary: This essay was originally written in 2013 and published in the Hannibal collection of fanworks titled, "You Are Cordially Invited: A Gastronomic Tour de Force".
Kudos: 4





	Hannibal Lecter, A Contemporary Frankenstein (Meta)

Hannibal Lecter, A Contemporary Frankenstein 

  
By Christi Gravett 

  
Prometheus was punished for his pride in being a “creator” of men. So, too, was Victor Frankenstein punished by fate. For his prideful action, he ultimately lost everything. The character of Hannibal Lecter is similar to Victor Frankenstein in that he’s also, as Mary Shelley said of her creation, a “Modern Prometheus.” Frankenstein, for his times equivalent to modern day man, was repressed both sexually and emotionally. One or both of his parents, together with the prudery of 19th century society’s social mores and taboos, most likely caused this repression. Through the creation of an ultra-virile male monster, Frankenstein’s repression found an outlet. 

  
In Thomas Harris’ novel, Hannibal Rising, Lecter experiences oppression through war, the loss of his family, and the violent death of his younger sister, Mischa. Lecter, like Frankenstein, develops an interest in human anatomy, the former going on to become a medical student in France. Not long after his mother’s death, Frankenstein left for Ingolstadt where he quickly developed an interest in anatomy and “the structure of the human frame” (30). Here we have two men with an ardent obsession: cheating death (and the prideful act of conquering it). 

  
It also may be said that both men were unable to consider forming personal, even sexual relationships as a result of this obsession. Frankenstein displaced these unconscious desires, either for his mother or as a result of her passing, with the creation of the monster. He cheated his anatomy by becoming pregnant, if you will, but once having given birth to the monster was unable or unwilling to rear it as his own child. How can we, then, relate his experience to Lecter’s? This brings us to Bryan Fuller’s interpretation of Hannibal Lecter. Fuller’s Lecter may inhabit both the character of Frankenstein and the monster in that, by taking and consuming life, he’s not only creating himself, but creating and controlling how he’s perceived by those around him. He often feeds those undeserving of life to those who do, like Will Graham and Abigail Hobbs.

  
In Frankenstein’s acting out and general failure as a parent to his creation, he demonstrated feelings of estrangement. In Fuller’s series, we’ve already seen Lecter not-so-subtely attempting to be a parent to both Graham and Hobbs, by remolding and manipulating them into his own constructions. We also see this in Harris’ novel, Hannibal, with Clarice Starling, although Lecter’s reprogramming ultimately fails.

  
Frankenstein’s mother actively encouraged him to form and maintain a relationship with his cousin, Elizabeth. In his “grave worms” dream, it is apparent that he was either unable or unwilling to have a normal sexual relationship with his cousin whom his mother had chosen to be his life partner. It is possible that Frankenstein was afraid that if he fell in love with Elizabeth, she would die and he again would be left alone, as he was following his mother’s death. 

  
Perhaps this is why also why Hannibal Lecter’s romantic relationship with his aunt, Lady Murasaki, ultimately failed. He was not able to escape the loss of his parents, and more importantly, the loss of his sister.

  
As Lecter, in Harris’ novels, lived the majority of his life avenging his sister’s death, Frankenstein lived his life endeavoring to satisfy his mother’s will, but clearly her desire and his fear were opposed. As Mischa’s death created the monster in Lecter, Frankenstein’s mother created a monster in him. And as the monster stood looming over Frankenstein following his dream, so would he likewise stand over Elizabeth. The “grave worms” represent more than death’s corruption, they stand for Frankenstein’s incompetence and his failure in cheating nature: they are inevitable. Though Frankenstein succeeded in animating life, nature beguiled him. It is almost as if, in trying to defeat nature by creating life, nature reacted against Frankenstein, perhaps trying to restore a balance, a karma.

  
This brings us to Hannibal Lecter and his pension for “eating the rude.” Frankenstein, like Lecter, wanted mankind to evolve. However, to Frankenstein’s regret, he realized that this evolution would not occur through deviant, pietistic means because of the natural inertia of man’s thinking and method of development. Mankind would evolve, but not hurriedly. 

  
Frankenstein’s behavior suggests feelings of rejection towards his mother, possibly because she chose Elizabeth as his wife, denying him the opportunity to court other women, almost as if an arranged marriage was being imposed upon him. Frankenstein was denied the body of his mother, and therefore he felt the need to destroy “domestic love” (19). This destruction was accomplished on his wedding night when the monster killed Elizabeth.

  
Lecter, similarly, was denied the body of his sister after she is cannibalized by the militiamen. Both Lecter and Frankenstein’s “affairs” with feminine nature produce the monster. Frankenstein often conceptualized nature as being feminine. This notion follows the metaphor of Mother Earth, and the archaic theory that bearers of children are more emotionally involved and therefore tied to the earth to a greater degree than those who cannot bear children. At different times in the novel, nature is comforting to Frankenstein, almost maternal. At other times, he resents and fears his environment, for it represents the facility to give and preserve life, abilities denied to him.

  
Both Harris and Fuller’s incarnations of Hannibal Lecter reveal a man with, for lack of a better phrase, a great respect for feminine nature. His murders are almost exclusively tied to whether or not his victims insulted his sensibilities. His first murder in Hannibal Rising, Paul Momund, was the result of Momund’s insults against Lecter’s aunt. In Fuller’s series, Lecter only kills Miriam Lass after she finds the “wounded man” illustration, revealing Lecter to be the Chesapeake Ripper. Before killing her, he renders her unconscious, and actor Mads Mikkelsen performs this in a strangely tender way, avoiding any intense suffering.

  
When Frankenstein began telling his story to Walton, he made the statement: “No creature could have more tender parents than mine” (19). There is, of course, a bit of foreshadowing happening here, and yet, Frankenstein also seems to be saying something very significant. This quote is a reckoning of Frankenstein’s intrinsic knowledge and learning. Frankenstein is relinquishing his journey through dehumanization, and expressing the remorseful awareness of what he has become as a result of his failure to preserve himself and the people he loved. 

  
A similar awareness is present in Fuller’s Lecter. It is conveyed through both the subtle gestures of Mikkelsen, and Fuller’s implicating dialogue. Fuller’s Lecter may be manipulative, but it is often out of the desire to connect and to form “human” friendships. However, when Lecter sees his own inhumanity reflected back at him though the character of Tobias Budge, although interested, he has no desire to connect. Lecter sees a light in both Graham and Hobbs in the series, and Starling in the Harris novels. In them, he sees the possibility of creating something meaningful.


End file.
